The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

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Hello Forum

Hello Guys,

I'm brand new here. I've been lurking here and there for about a month. I've finally decided to dive in and participate in this community. A little about myself. I have a keen interest in maps and map making in general. I am almost entirely new to making maps via photoshop or gimp! I've relied on world building programs built into video games in the past. Warcraft 2, Starcraft, Civilization 3, 4, and Colonization. I also have the ability to draw slightly better than the average Joe. I've drawn maps by hand which look pretty cool.

My main interest driving me to join this community is to become skilled at GIMP so that I can make a great looking historical map of Europe for a board game I've designed. Well... any questions? Greetings?

Woah, my friend's name is Micah and you had me worried for a minute there that she hunted me all the way to this website... But anyway, it usually helps if you save it as jpg and lower the quality by one or two levels Looking forward to seeing your work!

When I go to insert image. The dialog box appears to be incomplete. It tells me to choose a file from my computer. I chose a picture thats .jpg and under 900KB. However there is no option to push ok or upload??

Ummm, are you sure you've spotted the buttons? After you've finished uploading the file, a thumbnail should be placed right where that red box is. Then, you just press "done" after. Does your box look like this and have these two buttons?? If not, then there must be something wrong then...

There it is. The attachment window worked properly. I was trying to "insert image". That screen isn't functioning for me.

Ok onto this map: This is my revision of a small town called Gwernia from an old video game called Aidyn Chronicles on the N64. My reinterpretation is 4-5 times larger than the town in the game. The castle, a keep, overlooks the majority of the town enclosed with a curtain wall on an artificial island along the coast. The right side is an ocean. The left is a moat. On the other side of the moat is a small trail trapped between the mountainside and the moat. This ensures a solid chokepoint easy to guard from the curtain wall overlooking the path. This map isn't done. I drew the basic designs by hand. To give it a polished look I copied and pasted features I made either by hand or in paint. This is most evident in the towers and buildings. The future of this map will see the village sprawling out to the southwest outside of the castle, and a protected bay with a shipyard south of the castle.

This is great!! You should definitely post it on the WIP thread, more people should spot it then I am liking the layout of this, especially how you drew that castle. Are you planning on colouring this?